PENDER COUNTY — Residents in two Pender County towns may have received incorrect bills from the county regarding property tax information or fees, the county announced Friday.
The county processed Burgaw property tax bills with a $0.60 tax rate, reflecting the 2025-2026 fiscal year; however, it’s 4-cents under the town’s actual rate for the 2026-2027 fiscal year budget. For the average home in Burgaw — listed as $287,564 per Zillow data — a homeowner would be on the hook for $115 more annually with the increase.
Additionally, Pender County sent Atkinson residents bills undercutting its solid waste fee. The bills noted the town’s rate at $199.20, but it’s actually $249 — meaning property owners owe $49.80 more.
READ MORE: Pender County reverts tax rate decision, passes county budget with 2025 reval numbers
ALSO: Senate bill proposed to pause 2026 reval numbers in a dozen counties, including Pender
The blunder has cost the county postage only, Pender County spokesperson Brandi Cobb told Port City Daily, meaning around $1,800 if calculating an 0.82-cent stamp for the 2,219 incorrect bills. However, many bills weren’t actually mailed, according to Assistant County Manager and Finance Director Meg Blue from Monday’s commissioner meeting.
“It will really be awash,” she told commissioners regarding the financial impact to taxpayers.
Pender County staff added Senate Bill 889 is the reason for the misprint. The legislation passed in June — 10 days before government budgets are due by state law — and mandated nine counties, including Pender, freeze their 2026 property valuations until 2027. Revaluations help elected leaders decide tax rates for their annual budgets.
Though Pender County paid $2.3 million for its 2026 revaluation, commissioners voted to suspend using the numbers in the 2026-2027 budget at the beginning of April; they were concerned by largely increased property values, on average by 105% in Pender County, and questioned the metrics used by the company they hired, Vincent Valuations.
However, according to the county attorney, the board was not legally allowed to suspend 2026 numbers, since it’s not within the board’s authority, rather the state’s. Thus, commissioners reversed their decision on May 5 to go with 2026 numbers for budget and tax-rate decisions.
Commissioners lobbied state representatives and sought a legislative remedy. On April 28, Senate Bill 889 was introduced, proposing to delay 2026 property tax revaluations until January 2027; it passed the House and Senate and was signed into law June 19, the same day Pender commissioners voted again to reinstate 2025 property values instead.
Cobb wrote in an email to Port City Daily Monday the change caused an error in the county’s tax system: “During this conversion, the previous tax rates were restored.”
At Pender County’s meeting on Monday evening, Commissioner Brent Springer asked for further explanation on the snafu.
“Let me be very clear: explanation, not an excuse,” County Manager Colby Sawyer said. “Our tax systems are designed to move forward through the years — it takes the information and changes a little and rolls forward. With the passing of 889, staff had to do a significant amount of work to roll that back to the previous year.”
Despite programming the software with current tax rates and fees, like solid waste — including from municipalities and the county — it reactivated last year’s numbers when staff changed revaluations to 2025.
“I’m not saying it shouldn’t have been caught, but that’s how it happened,” Sawyer said, adding the tax office worked through the weekend making corrections.
Springer wanted verification of when the correct bills would be mailed. Cobb told Port City Daily Monday the county staff hopes proper bills will be mailed within the week. Blue narrowed it down further for Springer, stating the goal is by Friday, Oct. 9.
“Moving forward, how will we make sure this doesn’t happen?” Springer asked
“Ideally, we don’t have to roll backwards,” Blue said. “It wouldn’t have happened had we not done that.”
Colby added they’re working with the software company for the quickest solution, with Blue noting she created a backup plan to generate a letter with the tax difference if new bills aren’t able to be come from the software this week.
Commissioner Jimmy Tate asked the county to conduct a deeper look at the process overall, including getting tax bills out earlier to people.
The county mails tax bills toward the end of August, with taxes becoming due Sept. 1 and residents able to pay without interest or penalties through Jan. 5, 2027.
“To a taxpayer not familiar with the process, this can cause a level of undue stress,” he said. “I want to make sure we aren’t overcharging people as well because of any errors that might exist. I am asking us to look at this again. This is a tough economy … I’m not saying we are overcharging people, but I want us to look at this process very closely.”
Commissioner Jerry Groves told Port City Daily ahead of the commissioners’ meeting he thought the situation could have been prevented with the installation of a tax administrator. Port City Daily reported last year the position was open, after the previous administrator, Melissa Radke, departed in March 2025; no one from the tax department personnel directory on Pender County’s website currently holds the title.
“I have done everything I can do to advertise for one and the administration refuses to do so,” Groves told Port City Daily.
Upon asking the county to confirm the open tax administrator position and who currently handles those duties, a response was not received.
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